


A Spy in Peril

by analyticamethyst



Series: A Daughter Gone Wrong [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: AU kinda where Beakley’s daughter turned evil, Scrooge spares no expense when it comes to his family, This is not meant to be Scrooge/Beakley btw, and Beakley is his family, arianna is the same arianna from the Webbed Wonder AU fun fact, idk - Freeform, it might not be an AU we have no canon evidence, ”partner” means spy partner
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/analyticamethyst/pseuds/analyticamethyst
Summary: It has been many years since Scrooge McDuck has spoken to Bentina Beakley. It’s quite a surprise to hear her voice on the phone. It’s even more surprising that she needs help, and who is hunting her down.But who is Scrooge McDuck if he doesn’t take care of his family?





	A Spy in Peril

Unknown number. Unknown number. Unknown number. 

Scrooge paused, his hand hovering over the phone. It was highly probable that it was one of his hated rivals, threatening him yet again. He was careful to keep the numbers of everyone he knew safely in his contacts.

But it could be Goldie, calling from a new number yet again. It could be the promise of a new adventure. It could be his niece or nephew, needing to call from an unknown phone.

He grabbed the phone and raised it to his ear. “Hello?”

He heard thick breaths and someone swallowing thickly on the other end, but no response. “Whoever ye are, jus’ tell me whatever ye want. Goldie, this better not be ye prancing me again.”

“Are you /still/ with that no-good thief?” a familiar, sharp, British voice snapped back. Scrooge froze.

He knew that voice, but he hadn’t heard it in years.

Not since he left Shush to adventure with Donald and Della.

But what gave Scrooge even more pause than the fact that his old partner was calling him after all those years was how her voice was cracking and perilous, teetering on the edge of tears. And the way she kept her voice low, as if she was afraid something would find her.

Bentina Beakley wasn’t afraid of anything.

Scrooge swallowed and gripped the edge of the table for support. “Aye, it’s on an’ off. It hasnae changed.” 

“It should,” Beakley grumbled. “You have more sense than that.” With her low tone, it was almost hard to hear the grief underlying her every word, and her vacant tone, as if part of her was far away, relieving some event gone horribly wrong.

“What’s wrong, Twenty-Two?” Scrooge asked gently, his stomach starting to twist with nerves.

The agent sighed heavily. “It’s... Arianna.”

Scrooge froze. He remembered Bentina’s daughter, clear as day. He had babysat her when she was just a wee lass, and she used to play with Donald and Della at Shush Headquarters while he and Bentina were away on missions. She was ambitious and clever, and always wanted to play spy and model her mother. She had been a sweet little thing, but Scrooge hadn’t seen her in ages.

“Is she okay?” he asked hesitantly, fearing the answer. “What happened?”

Beakley chuckled dryly. “Oh, she’s fine. I managed to get a few hits in too.”

Scrooge frowned. “You fought her?”

“She turned rogue,” his partner informed him. Her words were flat, but underlined by waves of grief and betrayal. “She works for Fowl now.”

Scrooge hissed. That was the highest offense an agent could commit without murder or snitching. “Ae... Ae am sorry, Bentina.”

“I had to fight her,” the agent continued. “I know her better than anyone. But she was upset that I chose the agency over her. So she didn’t hold back.”

Scrooge gasped, placing a hand over his mouth. “Oh, Bentina...”

“She keeps tracking me,” the spy whispered desolately. “Her... her new /boyfriend/, from Fowl, is a tech genius. He’s pulled up a lot of my old connections. I’m running out of places to go.”

Scrooge felt a stone drop in his stomach. He knew exactly what Bentina was implying, and he knew she would never ask if she wasn’t truly desperate. “You can stay here,” he amended after a moment. “There are magical and physical defenses here, some designed with Fowl in mind. Also, we have Duckworth. An’ Donald an’ Della. An’ me.”

“I’m sure that old dog won’t be happy about trying to protect me,” Bentina huffed, but he could hear her slight smile through the phone and felt a flood of relief. If she was joking, even just a little bit, it meant she had accepted the offer and was already feeling a little bit better.

It made Scrooge feel better too.

“Ae know ye an’ Duckworth donnae see eye ta eye, but he will protect ye, mark my words. He will listen ta me, and Ae will tell him to protect ye. Simple.”

Bentina laughed dryly through the phone. “I see. Well, I appreciate the effort. But I doubt it will work the way you’d like.”

Scrooge paused, choosing his words carefully. “How would ye like to come? Ae can send Della in a plane. A smaller one, if ye would prefer tae be inconspicuous.”

“That would be nice,” Bentina replies after a moment. “Della will be in a lot of danger. You know that.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Ae will ask her first, o’ course,” Scrooge replied carefully. “An’ if she says no, Ae will find someone else. Ae think she has a pilot friend who is into crazy stunts. That is dangerous for ye.”

When Bentina said nothing, Scrooge continued in a rush. “Ae will find somethin’ if he says no. Ae am Scrooge McDuck! What good am Ae if Ae cannae use me resources in a time of need?!”

He took a deep breath. “But Della will probably say yes. She likes danger.”

Bentina breathed a long, heavy sigh. “I know. Della should be fine. She’s an accomplished adventurer and pilot, and spy. But I don’t want to put her in unnecessary danger for me. It’s very unlikely that the flight will go off without a hitch.”

“Ae know,” Scrooge said quietly. “But it isnae unnecessary.”

Beakley was quiet after that, but it was a different sort of silence. Scrooge couldn’t describe how he knew. Maybe it was years of working together in tough situations. Maybe it was that he was already acutely tuned to her emotions after her first grief-stricken words. Maybe it was just luck.

Scrooge walked over to an armchair and sank heavily into it. He touched the bell for Duckworth lightly, knowing his butler would be here before he was done.

“I’ll send over the coordinates,” Beakley whispered at last.

Scrooge let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll go tell Della, then. Best of luck until we meet again.”

“Same to you,” Bentina replied, before there was a soft click and then static. 

Scrooge set down the phone as Duckworth slipped into the room, his footsteps light as a feather. He tried hard to hide it for the sake of his boss, but Scrooge knew him well. He knew the slight sour scowl and knew instantly that Duckworth knew about Beakley. It wasn’t a surprise. Duckworth always knew everything happening in McDuck Manor.

“You called, sir?” his butler asked, his tone even and neutral, but with just a hint of distaste.

“Aye,” Scrooge replied. “Send for Della, and call for a small inconspicuous plane. We have work to do.”

Duckworth scowled a little more, but bowed his head in agreement and scurried out of the room.

A moment later his niece entered, her hair messy from a recent stunt. “What’s wrong, Uncle Scrooge?”

His niece knew how to read him well.

He hurried over to a cabinet on his desk and shoved it aside, revealing an old clunky computer from his SHUSH days. He turned it on, half expecting the documents from his last mission years ago to show up, but instead a small blue notification blinked at the edge of the screen for a few moments before a new document filled the screen. Scrooge wasted no time printing it on yellowish paper before deleting the document and shutting the computer down.

He handed the paper to Della, who read the small black numbers out loud to herself before glancing in surprise at Scrooge. “You’re back with SHUSH?”

He shook his head. “This is a different kind of mission. Do ye think ye can fly an inconspicuous plane to this location, pick up Bentina, an’ fly back as soon as possible, even though ye will probably be attacked by a powerful FOWL agent with SHUSH trainin’ out for revenge?”

Della nodded slowly, processing the information. “You heard from Mrs. Beakley? She’s in trouble? And she called /you/?”

“All her other options have been exhausted,” Scrooge sighed. “Arianna’s gone rogue. To FOWL.”

Della gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. “Oh. I see. That must be so hard for her.” She lowered her hand and clenched it in a fist at her side. “Well, I can definitely do that. It will be nice to have a mission again.”

Scrooge felt a pang in his heart. He knew his niece and nephew had enjoyed the few missions they had been on, but he preferred adventuring.

With Bentina back in the picture, it looked like he was going to have to face that argument again.

Scrooge sighed, a heavy, drawn-out sigh, and leaned slowly back in the armchair, listening to the velvet crinkle under his weight. “We have our work cut out for us, lass.”

Della frowned, studying the paper again, but Scrooge knew she had already committed the coordinates to memory. “That we do, Uncle Scrooge. That we do.”

/That you do./

**Author's Note:**

> This was totally random again I’m so sorry to everyone who sent me writing requests I really haven’t forgotten about you I swear <3\. But now it’s gonna be a multi chapter fic even though I suck at those, so hopefully I actually manage to finish it :P I started writing something very similar, something I’ll probably write soon that could be seen as a preface but I’ll probably make into a separate one-shot because it can stand on its own.
> 
> The friend that Scrooge was referring to was Launchpad, btw :P I’m very fond of the idea that he and Della were friends in flight school because they were the most dangerous risk-taking stunt pilots out there. But I don’t think Scrooge and Donald ever met him. I don’t think he’ll show up in this fic, but I honestly haven’t decided.
> 
> This is my first time writing Della and I hope I got her character okay. I’m still figuring out how to write her. She’s a very interesting character and I’ll probably write her a lot! Unless something changes it’s her POV next chapter so I’d better learn fast :P


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